How To Stop Urine Leakage While Running.

Discover the reasons you may be leaking while running, and what you can do about it.

A top question we get asked is “How to stop urine leakage while running?”. Despite what many think, just running with a pad on is not the solution to leakage while running.

Leaking urine while running is a sign that your body isn’t doing something it should. Meaning, that the muscles that sit within your pelvis (called your pelvic floor muscles) are likely not doing their job of keeping your urine in.

When it comes to stopping urine leakage while running, we cannot just give blanket advice to every person experiencing urine leakage while running. This is because the cause of the leakage may be different for each person. In order to help provide clarity on how to stop urine leakage while running, we first need to understand what is causing it.

Urine leakage while running is a common concern for runners. Some studies report that to 40% of runners struggle with urinary incontinence. Many choose to just wear a pad and continue running, however we caution anyone against pushing through and continuing to run while leaking, as this can lead to compensations and further problems down the road.

Since running doesn’t require much equipment other than running shoes, it’s an easy form of exercise to just start doing and many of us take for granted how taxing running is on our system. 

When you break apart running at its purest form, running is essentially repetitive hopping on one foot. Therefore, it is very taxing on our body and requires good strength and control of our core, trunk and legs in order to run efficiently. While running, your pelvic floor should be able to coordinate with your breath, hip muscles, core muscles and muscles of the legs.

You shouldn’t have to think about what your pelvic floor muscles are doing. They should be responding automatically.

If part of our body isn’t doing it’s job, this will put stress and excess pressure on another part of our body. The same holds true for the pelvic floor. If our core, hips, and leg muscles aren’t doing their job, then this put excess pressure on the pelvic floor and can be one of the reasons you may be experiencing urine leakage while running. 

You should never leak when you run and if you experience leakage, you should stop running at the mileage point where you experience leakage. A quick solution, might be to take a small break mid-run and then try to resume your run, only continuing if you can do so without leakage.

Often people are told to Kegel (or repetitively contract the pelvic floor muscles) while you run, in order to stop urine leakage while running. However, besides being virtually impossible to Kegel and run at the same time, kegels may not help.

This is because your leakage may not be a pelvic floor strength problem, but instead may be due to the fact that other muscles aren’t doing their job which then results in more pressure getting placed through the pelvic floor and then the pelvic floor is getting too fatigued. In this case, purely strengthening the pelvic floor won’t help. Instead, we have to take the pressure off of it.

In addition, the muscles of the calf and foot and ankle are controlled by the same nerve as your pelvic floor muscles. Therefore, ensuring that you have good foot and ankle mobility and strength is paramount because a weak foot/ankle will result in a weak pelvic floor. Also, if your feet and ankles aren’t moving well, your pelvic floor will have to work a lot harder to keep you propelling forward.

The gluteal and hip muscles also work side by side with the pelvic floor muscles, and an imbalance in your hips can result in excess pressure placed on the pelvic floor and thus result in leakage.

If you are experiencing urine leakage while running, it is essential that you see a pelvic floor therapist that is well versed in runners and in orthopedics. They will help determine if the issue is coming from pelvic floor weakness, incoordination, or weakness elsewhere in your body (places like your hips, ankles, or core, to name a few).

When seeking pelvic floor PT, treatment should consist of lower body strengthening as well as core and pelvic floor coordination exercises. If you are seeking treatment for urine leakage while running, performing repetitive kegels while lying down likely won’t cut it. As mentioned, this only helps with voluntary strengthening of the pelvic floor, but your leakage may not be a pelvic floor strength problem.

Exercises should match your task demands. So, since running is essentially repetitive hopping on one foot, single leg work, hopping, and jumping are all great exercises to help to stop urine leakage while running (as long as you can do them without leaking!).

In conclusion, although common, urinary leakage during running is not something you should have to live with. Stopping urinary leakage while running can include pelvic floor muscle strengthening, lower body strengthening, core and pelvic floor coordination, and single leg stability and strengthening.

Seeing a qualified pelvic floor physical therapist with advanced knowledge in orthopedics and running, can be extremely beneficial.